Tony Aardvark. Debunking commonly held myths

The United States is Littered With More than 14,000 Abandoned Wind Turbines

Wind power, the renewable energy that will save the world from global warming, is actually an environmental disaster that is directly affecting the bird population in certain places and causing a nuisance to the people who live close to these monsters. They’re also causing environmental problems for countries like China who are manufacturing the turbines and are actually failing at producing reliable energy.

In a previous post regarding the disrespectful placement of wind turbines on the D Day beaches of Normandy it was concluded that leftist propagandists would be up in arms if this are were home to a threatened species of bat: “Now if the area around the Normandy beaches were home to a threatened species of aquatic fruit bat then every NGO from Greenpeace to the WWF would be up in arms.” It’s now apparent that this assumption is wrong and that the wind turbine comes second to none for climate change activists. This is seen through their quiet attitudes regarding the slaughtering of bird species caused by the wind turbines.

As California attempts to divorce itself from fossil-fueled electricity, it may be trading one environmental sin for another — although you don’t hear state officials admitting it.

California’s green energy is growing quickly with wind turbine growing the fastest. As this happens, wildlife experts are warning that this renewable energy source will have a negative impact on the bird species in the area including the numerous protected eagles, owls, and hawks.

“The cumulative impacts are huge,” said Shawn Smallwood, an expert studying the effects of wind farms on local bird populations. “It is not inconceivable to me that we could reduce golden eagle populations by a great deal, if not wipe them out.”

There are about 2,500 of these golden eagles in California and the biggest wind turbine farm is said to kill about 80 of these eagles each year, on average. Instead of being concerned about this number, the state is looking to triple their wind turbine capacity in order to generate 33% of its electricity from green energy by 2020.

“We would like to have no bird deaths and no bird injuries. But, once again, we have to balance all the needs of society. All the people who want to flip their switch and have electricity in their homes,” said Lorelei Oviatt, Kern County planning commissioner.

In this push for more wind turbine farms, Kern County picked out an area of 225,000 acres slightly north of Los Angeles due to its wind resources. Sadly, this same area is a hunting ground for birds of prey as well as a migratory path for birds that travel from Canada to Mexico with the change of seasons. The correlation between hunting grounds and wind farms seems to be the updrafts that are produced in the areas. This means that birds of prey will most likely be put to the side in favor of wind farms.

Apparently, the left only cares about the needs of society over the environment when it comes to climate change. One can be sure that if the societal needs had to do with oil rigs, the same people remaining silent on the death of birds would be up in arms against the oil companies.

“Politics plays a huge role here,” Smallwood said. “Our leaders want this power source so they’re giving, for a time being, a pass to the wind industry. If you or I killed an eagle, we’re looking at major consequences.”

Smallwood and cohorts are quite shocked that the US Fish and Wildlife Service haven’t taken action against the wind turbines in order to enforce the US Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

“There’s a big, big hypocrisy here,” Sue Hammer of Tehachapi Wildlife Rehab in Kern County said. “If I shoot an eagle, it’s a $10,000 fine and/or a vacation of one to five years in a federal pen of my choice.”

When similar environmental tragedies happened, like the 2009 Exxon oil spill that killed around 85 birds across five states, they were fined $600,000. Similarly, an Oregon utility company, PacifiCorp, had to pay up $10.5 million when 232 eagles died after power lines were placed in Wyoming. One more instance of companies paying up for harming protected species was in 2005 when a fish hatchery owner had to pay $65,000 and spend six months in a federally-run halfway house after shooting an eagle for feeding out of his business’s hatchery.

Despite these cases of companies and individuals being held responsible for harming wildlife, the USFWS has yet to punish any wind turbine company for their role in the deaths of protected bird species.

This is obvious hypocrisy and shows everyone that wind farms are above the law and that anything that shows them in a negative light should be downplayed or simply ignored. This hypocrisy has always been a cornerstone of Al Gore’s climate change rhetoric. Simply put, “Don’t do as I do, do as I say.”